Australia's political system

The Australian Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament or the Federal Parliament, is Australia's highest legislative body. It is bicameral, influenced by both the Westminster system and United States federalism. Under Section 1 of the Australian Constitution, Parliament has three parts: the Monarch , the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The Australian Parliament is the sixth oldest continuously democratic legislature in the world.

The House of Representatives has 150 deputies , each of whom is elected for a flexible term of office, not exceeding three years, and represents one constituency, usually called the electorate or revenge. Voting within each electorate takes place according to the rating system of preferential voting , which first arose in Australia. A party or a coalition of parties that has received the confidence of a majority of the deputies of the House of Representatives forms the government.

There are 76 deputies in the Australian Senate . Six states send twelve senators each, and two territories send two senators each, elected by a single, intransitive voice . Senators are elected for a flexible term not exceeding six years. Half of the senators must participate in the struggle in each federal election. The Senate has been granted substantial constitutional powers that far exceed those of the upper houses of Great Britain and Canada. He has the power to block the bill passing through the House of Representatives, as well as any budgetary expenses. Thus, the Senate has the power to overthrow the government, as happened during the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.

Since the bill must successfully pass through both houses in order to become law, disagreements between the House of Representatives and the Senate could freeze government spending indefinitely. These deadlocks are resolved in accordance with article 57 of the Constitution, the dissolution of both chambers and the appointment of double elections. Such elections are rare, but not because of the lack of sufficient reasons to hold them, but because they pose a real political threat to any government that wants to bring it to them. Of the six double elections that have been held since the founding of the federation, half led to the fall of the government. Only once, in 1974, the full procedure for breaking the deadlock was followed, with a joint meeting of both houses, at which bills were discussed that led the situation to a standstill.

The role of the head of state in Australia is divided between two people: the monarch of Australia and the governor general of Australia. The functions and role of the governor-general include the appointment of ambassadors, ministers and judges, the issuance of royal sanctions on legislation, the issuance of election regulations and the granting of honors. The Governor-General is the President of the Federal Executive Council and the Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defense Forces. He holds these posts under the Australian Constitution. In practice, with the exception of extraordinary circumstances, the Governor-General exercises this authority only in consultation with the Prime Minister. Thus, the role of governor-general is often described as a largely ceremonial post.

The Prime Minister of Australia - the highest minister of government , the leader of the Cabinet of Ministers and the head of government , holds the post on behalf of the Governor General of Australia. The Prime Minister, in practice, is Australia's most important political post. Being the pinnacle of the country's executive branch, the position is not mentioned in the Australian Constitution and exists due to unwritten political custom. Apart from exceptional circumstances, the Prime Minister is always the leader of a political party or coalition with the support of the majority of the House of Representatives. The only time a senator was appointed prime minister was with John Gorton, who subsequently resigned from the Senate and was elected to the House of Representatives (Senator George Pearce was acting prime minister for seven months in 1916, while Billy Hughes was abroad).

The Australian Cabinet of Ministers is the council of chief ministers responsible to Parliament. The cabinet is appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister and proceeds with his approval. Cabinet meetings are held in strict confidentiality once a week to discuss vital issues and formulate a common policy. Outside the cabinet, there remain junior ministers responsible for a specific policy area and reporting directly to any cabinet minister. The Australian Constitution does not recognize the Cabinet as a legal entity, and its decisions have no legal effect. All members of the government are at the same time members of the Executive Council , a body that is headed, in theory, although rarely in practice, by the Governor-General, and who meets solely to confirm and give legal force to decisions already adopted by the Cabinet. Therefore, there is always a member of the government who holds the title of Vice President of the Executive Council.

Reflecting the influence of the Westminster system, ministers are selected from elected members of parliament. All ministers are expected to personally uphold collective government decisions. From the minister, who cannot publicly defend the actions of the government, in most cases they expect to resign. Such resignations are rare; rarity is also the public disclosure of splits within the cabinet. In-party loyalty is seen in Australian politics as a serious factor.

The Australian Supreme Court is the highest in the Australian judicial hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It is both a trial court and an appeal court, has the right to judicial review of laws passed by the Australian Parliament and state parliaments, and interprets the Australian Constitution. The Supreme Court is empowered by Section 71 of the Constitution, which gives it judicial power in the Australian Union. It was established in accordance with the Law on the Judicial System of 1903. The Supreme Court consists of seven judges: the Chief Justice of Australia, currently Robert French, and six other judges.

The state supreme courts are also considered supreme courts, that is, they have unlimited jurisdiction over litigation, and are also the top of the judicial hierarchy within their jurisdiction. They were created under the constitutions of the respective states or by acts of self-government for the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory. Appeals can be made to the Supreme Court of Australia from the state supreme courts.

The lower courts are secondary to the higher courts. Their existence is established by law, and they have the power to make decisions on issues that the Parliament will give them. Decisions of lower courts may be appealed to the Supreme Court in that area, and then to the Supreme Court of Australia.

At the federal level, elections are held at least once every three years. The Prime Minister may advise the Governor General to call for elections to the House of Representatives at any time, but Senate elections can only be held during certain periods prescribed by the Australian Constitution. The last Australian federal election took place on September 7, 2013.

The House of Representatives is elected using the Australian rating system , which ultimately redistributes the votes of small parties between the two leading election parties. The Senate is elected using a single voice system , which leads to greater representation of small parties in the Senate. For most of the last thirty years, a balance of power has been maintained, with the result that neither the government nor the opposition have full control of the Senate. This limitation of their power often forces governments to enlist the support of small parties or independent candidates to ensure the success of their legislative initiatives. The ease with which small parties can secure representation in the Senate compared to the House of Representatives predicts that these parties often focus on ensuring representation in the upper house. This is also true for the state level (only two territories and Queensland have unicameral legislatures). Minor parties rarely manage to win seats in the House of Representatives.

Six states of Australia and two territories are internally structured according to a political system similar to that of the Commonwealth. Each state has its own bicameral parliament, with the exception of Queensland and two Territories whose parliaments are unicameral. Each state has a Governor who plays a role equivalent to that of the Governor-General at the federal level, and a Prime Minister who is the head of government and is equivalent to the Prime Minister. Each state also has its own Supreme Court, from which you can appeal to the Australian Supreme Court.

Elections in six Australian states and two territories are held at least once every four years, although Queensland holds them every three years. In New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, election dates are fixed by law. But the prime ministers of the rest of the states and the head of government of the Northern Territory have the same right to call elections at their discretion as the Prime Minister at the federal level.

Local government in Australia is the third (and lowest), government level, subordinate to the state and territory, which, in turn, lie below the federal level. Unlike the United States, Great Britain, and New Zealand, all states have only one level of local government, with no distinction between counties and cities. Today, most local governments have the same authority within the same state, and varieties such as "district" or "city" refer more likely to the nature of the settlement, mostly rural or urban.

In Australian political culture, the Coalition (Liberal and National Parties) is considered center-right, while the Labor Party is considered center-left. Australian conservatism is mainly represented by the Coalition, along with Australian liberalism, which refers to free-market economic neoliberalism, rather than center-left social liberalism, as in the United States and Great Britain. The Labor Party classifies itself as Social Democratic, although it pursues a neoliberal economic policy beginning with Prime Minister Bob Hawke .

Queensland, along with Western Australia and the Northern Territory, are regarded as predominantly conservative. Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory are considered relatively social liberal. New South Wales is often regarded as a politically moderate state.

Organized political parties at the federal level have dominated the Australian political field since the formation of the federation. At the end of the 19th century, there was a rise in the Australian Labor Party, which represented organized workers. Forces with opposing interests joined together in two main parties: the center-right party, relying on businessmen and the middle class, which was predominantly social-conservative, now it is the Liberal Party of Australia, and the agrarian conservative party, now called the National Party of Australia. Although there are several more political parties seeking parliamentary representation, the three dominate everywhere in Australian organized politics. Only in rare cases, other parties or independent parliamentarians play at least some role in the formation or work of the government.

The Australian political system operates as a bipartisan, thanks to a permanent coalition between the Liberal Party and the National Party. Party discipline is historically strong, unlike other countries, such as the United States. Australia's political system was not always bipartisan, nor was it always internally stable.

The Australian Labor Party (LSA) calls itself the Social Democratic Party, although, as already mentioned, in recent decades it has been pursuing a neoliberal economic program. The LSA is based on the Australian labor movement and represents the interests of the urban working class, although its base is expanding more and more at the expense of sympathizers from the middle class.

The Liberal Party of Australia is the party of the right-wing center, representing the interests of business, the middle class from the suburbs and many rural residents. Her regular coalition partner at the federal level is the National Party of Australia, formerly known as the Agrarian Party, a conservative party that represents the interests of farmers. Together, these two parties are known as the Coalition. In Queensland, both parties formally merged into the Liberal National Party, and in the Northern Territory the National Party is known as the Agrarian Liberal Party.

Small parties in Australia’s political system include the Australian Green Party, two social conservative parties — the Family First and the Australian Cutter parties, and the Libertarian Liberal Democrats. Previously significant parties include the United Nations Nationalist Party and the Social Liberal Party of Australian Democrats.